GTX 680 SLI vs Radeon HD 7970 CrossfireX

[nanaki333]

So, anybody that knows me on here knows that I like to upgrade to whatever the best is at any given time. Being that the GTX 680 is only marginally better than the 7970, I'm kind of torn on upgrading my current dual 7970s to dual 680s. Are there any reviews, or any users for that matter, that have any SLI benchmarks? If the scaling is better than the 7970s, then I think I'll be grabbing a pair.

 

[Elfear]

From the reviews I saw, SLI scaling was worse. A pair of 7970's is equal to or greater than a pair of 680's. Sorry I don't remember which reviews I perused. I'll see if i can find them.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

AFAIK although 680 stock ~> 7970 stock. 680 SLI ~< 7970 CF and even worse when both sides are overclocked. You would be degrading your performance.

If you have that kind of money,

get X3960 + Asus Maximum 2011 + 32 GB DDR3 2133 CAS7 + Quad CF 7970 Lightning.

You will notice far more difference in performance per unit of money you spend on the above mentioned rig than the benefit in going from a single 7970 stock to 680 stock , I am talking of performance increase per unit money

 

[nanaki333]

AFAIK although 680 stock ~> 7970 stock. 680 SLI ~< 7970 CF and even worse when both sides are overclocked. You would be degrading your performance.

If you have that kind of money,

get X3960 + Asus Maximum 2011 + 32 GB DDR3 2133 CAS7 + Quad CF 7970 Lightning.

You will notice far more difference in performance per unit of money you spend on the above mentioned rig than the benefit in going from a single 7970 stock to 680 stock , I am talking of performance increase per unit money

i thought about that, but i'm currently having an issue with my x79 mobo (i'm not alone apparently either). i have an asus p9x79 pro that gives hard locks with 2 cards. currently i have only 1 plugged in. asus is clueless and blames intel's 3930k.

i also never buy the extreme CPUs. i find them a complete waste of money and not worth the premium. i have to have SOME restraint.


thanks all for the comments. i don't remember seeing any SLI benchmarks on the reviews, but i did not full read them.

 

[azeem40]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

Jump to BF3 multimonitor section.

 

[nanaki333]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

Jump to BF3 multimonitor section.

nice. definitely did not read hardocp's review.

seems like they cherry picked 2 games for the NV surround vs CrossfireX comparison. i may have to go through the review thread and check out all of them.

 

[blackened23]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

Jump to BF3 multimonitor section.

I think the OP wanted SLI vs crossfire results. HardOCP should have their SLI vs crossfire article up today.

 

[blackened23]

So, anybody that knows me on here knows that I like to upgrade to whatever the best is at any given time. Being that the GTX 680 is only marginally better than the 7970, I'm kind of torn on upgrading my current dual 7970s to dual 680s. Are there any reviews, or any users for that matter, that have any SLI benchmarks? If the scaling is better than the 7970s, then I think I'll be grabbing a pair.

I went to 680 sli from 7970 crossfire and here's what i'll tell you. If you buy 680 sli you are not upgrading. I heavily OC'ed both setups, and performance wise the 7970 wins by a lot (10-15 fps) in witcher 2, all crysis games (1,2,warhead), metro 2033, and Civ 5. The 680 sli wins in Batman: AC, Skyrim (the beta 12.4 catalyst driver improves 7970 skyrim performance alot, though), Dirt 3, and a very slight lead in bf3 (2-3 fps when overclocked, hardly noticeable.)

It goes back and forth but overall, especially if you're overclocking, it is not worth the cash. Quite a few games are faster on 7970 crossfire (especially if overclocked). Which is odd because the titles that are generally faster are TWIMTBP titles such as crysis 2 and metro 2033. I play single monitor at 2560 resolution.

The advantages that the 680s do have is they're quiete, and they win in their share of games like batman, skyrim, and dirt 3. There's also another writeup from another user on HardOCP (digital viper ? I think) who went a similar upgrade path, he found the same results. It may be a driver issue, but in quite a few games crossfire is scaling better than SLI, I don't know if its a VRAM issue (again, 2560 resolution with all eye candy) or a driver issue.

Overall i'm satisfied with the 680s, and I had a 2nd PC to throw the 7970s in, the 680s are killer cards no doubt. If you're a new purchaser the 680 is the clear winner.... But if you have 7970 xfire don't bother.

 

[Nemesis 1]

I personally really like the NV 680,s Their efficient and powerful . BUT! I will wait for the evga non referance with the built in water blocks from switchtech . That may change if Aquacomputer gets a non referance cooler that fits the EVGA cards.Switchtech is pretty shabby quality. These things will have 4gb ram and likely O/C to 1500mhz. These are the cards to buy Non referance is the Key to total NV domination. Keys if you would find out why the latest NV drivers stop my 560Ti from playing Call of duty 4 I had to roll back my drivers to play that game.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

It may be a driver issue, but in quite a few games crossfire is scaling better than SLI, I don't know if its a VRAM issue (again, 2560 resolution with all eye candy) or a driver issue.

Typically if you are slightly vram limited fps will tank hard from time to time.

It will be very noticeable, like dropping from 70 fps to 28 and it will feel choppy.

If you are fully vram limited fps will tank and be low and never come up. A gpu with enough power to push 40+ fps will get 4-5 when fully vram limited.


This isn't meant to be 100% conclusive, I'm sure you can find a few where there is some variance, but 1600p with max settings for the most part never really benefited from the 3GB 580.

 

[Nemesis 1]

I read alot of reviews and seen so many differant results . Its to the point were I will read only AT reviews and call it good enough . So more Vram doesn't matter on 580 running sli with 1.5 Gb ram . On an amd cpu system I sure thats likely true as it be cpu limited. Your graph is nice . But more info on the Cpu would be helpful. Really tho thats neither here or there. With NV now able to run 3 monitors at super high resolutions I will bet we see a rather large differance . I have a tendency to keep my GPUs a fairly long time . 4 gb of v-ram is pretty good . I still have my ATI 300 lol. Even tho I gave the M/B and cpu and Ram to a member here I did keep the gpus that I bought for that system all 3 of them .

 

[blackened23]

Typically if you are slightly vram limited fps will tank hard from time to time.

It will be very noticeable, like dropping from 70 fps to 28 and it will feel choppy.

If you are fully vram limited fps will tank and be low and never come up. A gpu with enough power to push 40+ fps will get 4-5 when fully vram limited.


This isn't meant to be 100% conclusive, I'm sure you can find a few where there is some variance, but 1600p with max settings for the most part never really benefited from the 3GB 580.

Yeah, I don't get any "choppy" framerate patterns like you describe there so it may be a driver issue. In crysis 2 - my favorite testing level is the "from the ashes" level where he's floating in the water and his suit is rebooting. In that scene with max detail with dx11 / high textures @ 2560 resolution , the 680 sli starts out around 45 fps at the start of that cinematic while oc'ed - and going up to 55-60 during normal gameplay while in the tank... whereas the 7970 is noticeably higher. 65, going to 75-80 throughout the level. This is with absolute max settings in the game for everything.

Maybe its a driver issue /shrug. I do get good GPU usage on the 680 sli though, its generally 95%+ on both GPU1 and GPU2. Like I said this is 1 game and they go back and forth, the 680 sli has a similar lopsided victory in Batman : AC.

 

[blackened23]

I can't believe i'm dignifying apoppin with a respnse, but everything is rendered with the game engine, guess someone needs to youtube level 18 out of the ashes. Everything is rendered with the game engine. Further, the entire level is 10-15 fps slower, you can believe me or not. Or you can get 680 sli and 7970 xfire and test for yourself, but I guess the 10 visitors you get to your website won't cover the costs. Yeah, I challenge you to test it with same testing methodology. 2560 res, everything max, 680 sli at 135 offset, 7970 1125 / 1700 crossfire. Like I said your visitors wont' cover the costs, ask nvidia viral to cover the costs for you Heck, Fraps it. I'm sure nvidia will give you the cash to cover it.

PS what cutscenes are you referring too? Everything to my knowledge is rendered with the game engine from start to finish. Not that it matters b/c the entire level is slower.... I guess someone clearly hasn't played the game. The part where you hop in the tank is around 55 fps on the 680 sli. I'd describe this in more detail but i'm afriad you'd have NO IDEA what i'm talking about since you haven't played it. I guess you also missed the part where I said the 680 sli wins some games too. My bad on trying to be objective, AFAIK i've been extremely complementary on my 680s since I bought them. I like them.

PSS: This user found the same thing -----> http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1681820

Please tell me he's an AMD marketer. ROFL

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I'd wait for the drivers to mature a bit personally.

 

[Tempered81]

I'll take it from the forum posters who we interact with like Blackened23 and Digital-ViperX who have both 7970CFX and 680SLI and know how to bench and overclock.

First hand experience from gamers who actually play games and don't have ulterior motvies are the folks who will have the least biased opinions and most accurate descriptions.

So far I like what i have read from both these guys, and it sounds like the two setups trade blows. 680 has tons of raw power, but is limited by bandwidth. Digital ViperX said he sold his 680sli and stuck with the 7970cfx.

I'd probably sell all 4 cards and get either a lightning 7970 or a Classified 680.

 

[Grooveriding]

I can't believe i'm dignifying apoppin with a respnse..

Is he back here posting somewhere ? Didn't see a post from him.

Hey look, it's ABT's editor collecting data for his next big unsubstantiated expose for him and his six forum posters.

 

[MisterMac]

Isn't it virtually agreed, The GTX680 is ... NOT VRAM starved.
It's bandwith starved period.


That's blatantly obvious?


Would the GTX 680 users, please run highest reso & eye-candy they can @ stock.
Report results.


Now oc MEM as much as POSSIBLE and retry, said config.


I'd somehow bet results will be greater, as it's far from shader starved.
... or am i loon now ?

 

[DigitalWolf]

i thought about that, but i'm currently having an issue with my x79 mobo (i'm not alone apparently either). i have an asus p9x79 pro that gives hard locks with 2 cards. currently i have only 1 plugged in. asus is clueless and blames intel's 3930k.

i also never buy the extreme CPUs. i find them a complete waste of money and not worth the premium. i have to have SOME restraint.


thanks all for the comments. i don't remember seeing any SLI benchmarks on the reviews, but i did not full read them.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_680_SLI/1.html


The main issue with their article is it doesn't show any other multi card results(*edit* or I should say it doesn't show 7970CF results). Tho I would imagine they have a 7970 CF article you could just flip back and forth with.


In your paticular situation where you were having issues with hardlocks (read your other thread) maybe the 680 would work for you. Simply because Nvidia has currently disabled all Gen3 support in the drivers on X79 platforms pending validation.

 

[blackened23]

I'd wait for the drivers to mature a bit personally.

Yes, and thats very reasonable, it could be a driver issue. Its week 1 and drivers for sli aren't fully matured yet. I'm not sure why soemone wants to jump down my throat when i've stated the 7970 oc xfire wins some games while the sli 680 oc wins others.

 

[PingviN]

 

[jacktesterson]

I'd go 7970 Crossfire personally, if I had lots of money.

 

[Keysplayr]

I can't believe i'm dignifying apoppin with a respnse, but everything is rendered with the game engine, guess someone needs to youtube level 18 out of the ashes. Everything is rendered with the game engine. Further, the entire level is 10-15 fps slower, you can believe me or not. Or you can get 680 sli and 7970 xfire and test for yourself, but I guess the 10 visitors you get to your website won't cover the costs. Yeah, I challenge you to test it with same testing methodology. 2560 res, everything max, 680 sli at 135 offset, 7970 1125 / 1700 crossfire. Like I said your visitors wont' cover the costs, ask nvidia viral to cover the costs for you Heck, Fraps it. I'm sure nvidia will give you the cash to cover it.

PS what cutscenes are you referring too? Everything to my knowledge is rendered with the game engine from start to finish. Not that it matters b/c the entire level is slower.... I guess someone clearly hasn't played the game. The part where you hop in the tank is around 55 fps on the 680 sli. I'd describe this in more detail but i'm afriad you'd have NO IDEA what i'm talking about since you haven't played it. I guess you also missed the part where I said the 680 sli wins some games too. My bad on trying to be objective, AFAIK i've been extremely complementary on my 680s since I bought them. I like them.

PSS: This user found the same thing -----> http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1681820

Please tell me he's an AMD marketer. ROFL

^ Bold. There are quite a few reputable review sites that have done this already.
But what I'd really like to know is, who benchmarks cutscenes? Why would you decide to benchmark a cutscene? What gave you this idea? Why wouldn't you only benchmark gameplay?
And, in order for your personal benchmarks to even begin to be taken seriously, you need to run those each on it's own fresh windows installation.
I kind of figured your results wouldn't reflect what the review sites came up with. You may need to improve your benchmark methods.

 

[blackened23]

^ Bold. There are quite a few reputable review sites that have done this already.
But what I'd really like to know is, who benchmarks cutscenes? Why would you decide to benchmark a cutscene? What gave you this idea? Why wouldn't you only benchmark gameplay?
And, in order for your personal benchmarks to even begin to be taken seriously, you need to run those each on it's own fresh windows installation.
I kind of figured your results wouldn't reflect what the review sites came up with. You may need to improve your benchmark methods.

Oh my god. IT IS GAMEPLAY.

Everything is rendered with the game engine. Further, the entire level is 10-15 fps slower,


Thats bold. Its not a cut scene. Do the test like I did. Its 100% rendered with the game engine, and the entire level is consistently 10-15 fps slower.

I've stated that the 680 wins many games (batman, bf3 very slightly, dirt 3) with the 7970 winning all crysis games, metro 2033, and DEHR.

Please explain how this is an unreasonable statement. Multiple websites have shown benches of these games (crysis 2 @ 2560, metro 2033) being slightly sloower on the 680 at stock speeds in single card config. Please explain how some games being slower on 680, with others being faster is an unreasonable statement. Lastly, PLEASE DO TEST it. Replicate my testing methods and try it. Please don't bother me with the 1 benchmark out of 20 which somehow shows a single card 680 winning. Replicate the 7970 xfire and 680 sli test with the latest drivers/caps with both cards overclocked.

By all means test it yourself. IMO apoppin is doing damage control for nvidia viral I guess? Latest driver for both cards, using afterburner to overclock, 7970 @ 1125/1700 and 680 @ 135 offset. 2560 resolution. DX11 mode with tess, high textures. 12.2 WHQL with latest CAP, 301.10 driver for NV. both cards oc'ed, same with 680 @ 135 offset. Full eye candy, everything enabled except motion blur. There's the testing method There are no pre rendered scenes in the game, its all done with the game engine.

 

[blackened23]

Also,

The above is at stock speeds. I tested everything overclocked on both cards, 7970 gains approx 25-30% with an oc to 1125 in xfire.

Also: since the nvidia cookie pictured is really cute, I wonder who's behind that, hmm, hmm, Seems like various websites were given those at the press meet for the 680?
No further comment on that but I guess it blow someones mind that i'm a student working full time in the IT field.

 

[blackened23]

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